Business News Roundup, Dec. 11

Published 3:19 pm, Thursday, December 10, 2015

Chipotle founder and co-CEO Steve Ells says he is “deeply sorry” about the customers who were sickened after eating at the chain in recent weeks.

“I’m sorry for the people who got sick. They’re having a tough time and I feel terrible about that,” Ells said in an interview on NBC’s “Today” show.

Ells repeated the company’s pledge to tighten food safety procedures to ensure such incidents do not happen again.

On the same day, Boston College increased the number of students who have reported feeling ill after a group of them ate at Chipotle from 120 to 141. The school said that 12 of those students did not eat at the restaurant.

Norovirus can be transmitted by eating contaminated food, or by touching infected surfaces, then putting your fingers in your mouth.

Lawyers hired to compensate victims of General Motors’ faulty ignition switches have paid out $594.5 million to settle 399 eligible claims.

The numbers were released Thursday in a final report from compensation expert Kenneth Feinberg.

A total of 4,343 claims were filed with the GM fund. Only 9.2 percent were deemed eligible for payments, including claims for 124 deaths and 275 injuries.

The fund says more than 90 percent of the offers it made were accepted. Camille Biros, the compensation fund’s deputy director, has said that the claims that were rejected “couldn’t support any connection to the ignition switch.”

The switches in older model small cars such as the Chevy Cobalt can slip out of the “run” position and cut off the engine. They have been linked to crashes that caused at least 169 deaths.

The fine is in addition to a $105 million penalty this year for Fiat Chrysler’s mishandling of 23 recalls involving 11 million vehicles. The company must pay $140 million in cash and an additional $35 million if it fails to make required changes.

Fiat Chrysler acknowledged this fall that it failed to provide early warning data to regulators from 2003 onward. That data — which includes deaths, injuries, warranty claims, property damage claims and consumer complaints — helps the government identify potential vehicle defects.

Nevada may get

another plant

A Chinese-backed electric car company with visions of revolutionizing transportation — but no product to show yet — announced plans Wednesday to build a $1 billion plant near Las Vegas, marking the second time in just over a year that Nevada has landed a coveted project from the budding industry.

California automaker Faraday Future’s choice of Nevada over three other states is contingent on state lawmakers’ approval of tax incentives that haven’t been publicly described. The company’s announcement, in a letter to Nevada legislators that was obtained by the Associated Press, also came with the revelation that it’s backed by a Chinese billionaire investor who styles himself after Apple’s late Steve Jobs.

Tax breaks to seal the deal would need authorization from Nevada lawmakers, who approved a $1.3 billion incentive package in a special session last year to secure Palo Alto electric car maker Tesla Motors’ huge battery factory outside of Reno.

Trucking

Drivers to be

monitored

An estimated 3 million commercial truck and bus drivers must electronically record their hours behind the wheel under a new government rule aimed at enforcing regulations designed to prevent fatigue.

Drivers have been required to keep paper logs of their hours dating back to 1938, but accident investigators and safety advocates have long complained that it’s easy to change the logs or keep two different sets of records to evade restrictions on hours. Electronic logging devices record driving time by monitoring engine hours, vehicle movement, miles driven and location information.

“This automated technology not only brings logging records into the modern age, it also allows roadside safety inspectors to unmask violations of federal law that put lives at risk,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said.